Statement Of Sen. Patrick Leahy,
Hearing On The Federal Bureau Of Investigation Fiscal Year 2008 Budget,
Subcommittee On Commerce, Justice, Science And Related Agencies
Committee On Appropriations
April 26, 2007

Director Mueller, welcome and thank you for joining us today to testify before the Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice and Science regarding the FY 2008 budget request for the Federal Bureau of Investigation.  You and I get to see each other from time-to-time when you come before the Judiciary Committee for oversight hearings.  Today, however, I am here wearing my appropriator’s cap and I look forward to hearing you make the case for the budget the President has proposed for the FBI in the coming year.

I also want to thank the chair of our subcommittee, Senator Mikulski, for allowing me to open this hearing on her behalf.  She will be joining us shortly, but is on her way back from the formal send-off of the 1,300 Maryland National Guardsmen who will be deployed to Iraq in the next few months.  Having attended several such events in my own home state of Vermont, I know how hard this sendoff must be for the Guardsmen, their families and friends, Senator Mikulski and all those attending.  Our hearts and prayers are with those brave Maryland soldiers – and all of our brave men and women preparing to leave - and their families during this difficult time.  We hope they will be returning home soon.

During recent years, the FBI has confronted the daunting challenge of protecting our nation against international terrorism in the wake of the attacks of September 11, 2001, the subsequent anthrax attacks and other threats.  Director Mueller, you deserve credit for your efforts to assure the safety of the American people.

In the wake of terrorist attacks, I recognize that the Justice Department focused much of its attention on the prevention of terrorism and the promotion of national security.  Its top priorities continue to be the prevention, investigation and prosecution of terrorist activities against U.S. citizens and interests, which is evident in the request for more than $417 million in new investments for the FBI, including counterintelligence activities and justice information systems technology.

Nonetheless, I am concerned that this budget proposal, if enacted, would divert critical resources and staffing from traditional law enforcement matters, such as reducing the spike in violent crime, to support the Bureau’s counterterrorism work.  The FY08 budget requests the realignment of one hundred criminal agents to counterterrorism work.  This would leave traditional criminal law enforcement significantly understaffed at the Bureau.  Realigning these agents may further erode the FBI’s ability to combat violent crime and has been cited by the Office of Inspector General (OIG) as one of the top management challenges at the Justice Department.  We must not allow daily responsibilities that keep our citizens safe to fall aside.

It has been over two years since the FBI announced it would scrap the three-year $170 million effort to develop a modern case management system, known as the Virtual Case File, or VCF.  I have repeatedly expressed to you, Director Mueller, my deep frustration over the millions of dollars wasted on “lessons-learned,” and the fact that more than three years have passed since the original deadline while these technology goals are not met.

Since the FBI announced the VCF’s successor, the Sentinel program, I have seen nothing to boost my confidence in the Bureau’s ability to manage the status and cost of this project.  While the FBI estimates that Sentinel will ultimately cost the American taxpayers $425 million, a December 2006 OIG audit report questioned the reliability of the total estimated costs for the program.  It was originally expected that the full Sentinel system would be deployed in 2009.  Just recently, however, we learned a familiar piece of news regarding the FBI’s computer upgrade project.  Apparently there will be delays in the deployment of Phase I of the Sentinel upgrade, which jeopardizes the schedule for this much-needed computer system.

This latest setback is one of a string of costly delays in the FBI’s efforts to upgrade its computers.  Sentinel was launched after the FBI wasted five years and millions of taxpayer dollars on the failed Trilogy program.  By my calculations, at least $253 million has been invested in Sentinel alone from FY05 to FY07 between reprogramming dollars and Congressional appropriations.  The President’s FY08 Budget proposes no funding for the project.  The first of four program upgrade phases has yet to be completed, although we expected the entire Sentinel program to be up and running by 2009.

Director Mueller, this committee has to ask:  Is this déjà vu all over again?  You tried Trilogy and scrapped that.  You told us that Virtual Case File would meet your needs and you scrapped that.  Now that delays in Sentinel have been announced it’s not clear at all that the third time will be the charm.  This has been an expensive series of lessons – costing nearly $423 million for these three programs so far – learned on the backs of American taxpayers.

We must ensure that the FBI’s technological capabilities keep pace, and to do so requires not only an emphasis on providing funds but also effective use and implementation.  I hope the latter is not neglected and I remain seriously concerned about this project.

The pattern of incompetence and lack of accountability within the Bureau is also on display with its treatment of its own equipment and weapons.  Another recent report by the DOJ OIG found that the FBI cannot account for 160 laptop computers and an equal number of weapons that were lost or stolen over a three-and a-half year period.  This finding comes four years after the Inspector General recommended that the FBI take steps to ensure the security of this equipment.  Even more troubling, in many cases it was found that the FBI could not even determine whether its lost or stolen computers contained classified or sensitive information, putting Bureau employees and other individuals at risk of becoming victims of identity theft and potentially compromising national security information .

I am deeply troubled by the DOJ OIG’s report finding widespread illegal and improper use of National Security Letters (NSLs) to obtain Americans’ phone and financial records.   As Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, I convened a hearing on NSL abuse several weeks ago.  Inspector General Fine testified that his office found 22 separate instances where the FBI improperly abused NSLs in the review of just 77 FBI files.  Not a single one of these violations had been reported by the FBI.  On top of that, because the FBI still lacks the information technology that it needs to function efficiently in the Information Age, OJG found that the FBI database used to track NSLs malfunctioned, making it impossible to keep track of these letters.  I fear that the violations the Inspector General uncovered are probably just the tip of the iceberg and that there could be thousands of additional violations among the tens of thousands of NSLs that the FBI is now using each year.

The FBI finds itself again at a crossroads.  Acknowledging shortcomings is well and good, but the Bureau – and the Justice Department as a whole – must also learn from its mistakes if progress is to be made.  The time has come for demonstrable progress by the Bureau on a learning curve that has gone on and on for far too long.  Much work remains to be done and I have no doubt that the leaders and members of this Subcommittee will fulfill their obligation to the American people to carefully examine all of these issues.

Questions:

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